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1.11.2012

The concept of Infinity, Space, and God.

One of the most intriguing things to me in life is the concept of "infinity". I've always wondered what that meant.

What exactly is "infinity" and how can it be fully described?

Well, it can't be described. But we have an 'idea'.

Scientists for years now have tried to come up with an explanation for this concept, but the concept of infinity is exactly what it is; just a concept. It's intriguing because it's something that the human brain cannot perceive as solid information and the reason for that is because human beings have an existence that starts with a beginning and ends with death. We ourselves are not immortal, therefore, 'infinity' is something we cannot process in our minds. We don't know what infinity is. We like to use the word "forever" to describe a lasting feeling or memory, but we don't know if forever even exists.

When someone says,"I'll love you forever",beyond the thought behind the words, is it actually possible to "love forever"? If forever means that it's never ending, how can we perceive that if we ourselves are not forever? So is it to say that our love dies when we die?

To make the topic a bit more interesting (and daring...) let's throw in the belief of God. God is also a "concept" that people cannot truly define. Every religion has their sources. Christians have the Bible. And for every source there is a bit of definition to what God is but there is never really a clear definition. Again, the notion of there being a divine being is not something everyone can accept because it's something beyond our human comprehension. So religions came up with another concept, called "faith". Through faith, there is hope in believing something where science cannot provide an answer for.

Now let's put two and two together. As human beings, we like to believe that we can love someone for eternity, only because we believe that each person has a soul. And in in belief, the soul lasts for eternity. Christians believe that God is an entity that is not a person, but in fact a definition in itself; the definition of love. So if God is love, then love can in fact be eternal. Because the idea of 'God' is that he has no beginning and no end and that again, he is an entity--something that just 'is' and just exists. Christians therefore believe that the definition of love exists only through God because we need love in order for the world to continue existing. But how can something have no beginning and no end? Again, this is the whole concept of "infinity". It is not impossible but it is not something the human brain can comprehend because our existence has a beginning and an end. But love is also something we cannot fully comprehend. It's set off by our brains but we dont all love the same things. So if love is just a concept in itself that most of us believe in, perhaps God is not so hard to believe in either. I'll revisit this idea again later on.

Let's jump to the scientific facts.What do we know about space and infinity? And is space infinite?

Many research studies theorize that "infinity" is simply defined as "whatever the mind cannot measure". So for example, let's say that you're 6 years old and your mom hands you a ruler that measures up to 12inches. At that moment in time, you think that 12 inches is the most you can 'measure' because that's how long the ruler is. Even though we know that a desk is longer than 12inches, we perceive 'measuring' to be capped at 12inches because of the ruler. So how do we measure the desk with only 12inches? With sense, you realize that you can measure up to 12in with the ruler, mark the desk at the 12in line, then measure again beyond the mark and keep doing this repeatedly until you measure the entire length of the desk. We then begin to rationalize that 12inches is not the most we can measure something, but that 12 inches is the most that the ruler will measure at one time. So scientists believe that "infinity" can be defined as what our mind has the capacity of knowing from information that doesn't necessarily have to have a beginning and an end, and that our mind is a ruler in itself. We can calculate things without physically measuring it aslong as we have information. If you know that there are 20 tiles in your shower wall that span across and each square tile is 4in in length, you can conclude that the shower is about 6.7 ft long in length. But we cannot measure what we don't have information for. So something is simply 'infinite' when we do not know of it's capacity or measurements. In that retrospect, we can perceive the ocean to be infinite if we have not traveled the ocean and back to see how long it is.

We can assume that space is "infinite"because we will never know, at least in our lifetime, how vast space really is. Meaning, if we were to travel in space to see how long it would take to reach the 'end', there wouldn't be enough 'time' to actually be able to figure out how big the universe is. It would take billions of years to travel through space to begin with, which is why it's even difficult to just figure out if there is life on other galaxies. Facts are that yes, there are multiple galaxies, just like the Milky Way, except we don't know what is upon those galaxies. Those galaxies may just be clusters of random burning stars, but are we to believe that out of all the billions of galaxies, our solar system is the only one that exists with human life? Science can conclude that indeed, we are not the only galaxy in space, but we simply would not have enough time to travel to these distant galaxies to actually prove that other life exists or another solar system exists beyond our own.

Who knows, maybe space is in fact capped at some point, and that nothing is actually infinite or what we think is infinite. But again, we'll never know. People often question the concept of 'time' along with space because the two go hand in hand. Is time infinite? If space is infinite, we incur that time must also be infinite, because if there is no end to space, time will always have a place. In other words, think of it this way: Imagine the world and imagine space. Now, imagine the world is gone and there are no people left in the world and now there is just space. There may not be any people left to record 'time' but if space is still existing, then time does too. Does that make sense? As long as space exists, time exists too. Time is also a concept that is difficult to understand so as human beings, we've made it easier to calculate and read it. We have calendars, watches, clocks, and anything that marks a 'time' frame. This is strictly a concept that only living beings need because we age and our bodies die. Time is what gives us an incentive to get things done, to live life, and to enjoy it.

What about the Big Bang Theory?Ever notice that the Big Bang theory is still...a THEORY? It's a theory for a reason. Because again, since space and time is such an alien concept to the human brain, we can only make scientific guesses and theories to what started the universe to begin with. I consider the Big Bang theory the same as the theory of Time. It gives us a possible answer, a logical answer. But the fact remains, it's still only a possibility. Again, human beings like answers. Even though our intelligence is high enough to figure out many things of this universe, there are simply some things that we fail to have an answer for. Science can only give you the most logical and practical answer to life's questions. But beyond the things that we created ourselves, its difficult to construct an answer for the things we did not create, like our own brains and emotions, love, the concept of God, infinity, space, time, aliens, and the likes. There are many theories and explanations, but never a definite answer to these questions.

Let's jump back on the topic of God. Now, I'm a Christian personally, but I'm also a very logical person. I almost went into the field of studying Philosophy over art because I found the study very interesting. Philosophy is basically a Scientists worst nightmare. Philosophy studies everything from logic to religion to everything that could or couldn't be. Basically another way to describe Philo is, "The study of theories". I mean, seriously. That's what it is. But Philosophy exists because if we didn't question things, we wouldn't understand the world or ourselves very much. And it's kind of a known thing that Philosophy and religion do not mix well. The reason for that is most Philosophy studies go against the concept of 'God' because they believe that the mind is infinite and therefore, the concept of God is actually just an idea formed of ourselves. There are a lot of articles that talk about how human beings are creatures that long to belong and therefore, the idea of God is something that gives us belonging, and that prayers and beliefs all stem from our subconscious, the deepest part of our minds and that the universe is linked with our minds. So basically it's the theory of "if you want something bad enough, YOU will make it happen." With that said, yes, I find my logic can also get the best of me and therefore, sometimes I can question whether God exists, but for the most part, I do believe in God.

I believe in God because I believe in infinity.

Space is the only thing that can be logically perceived by this world as something that can be infinite. It's like, the only REAL thing that we all know and see that can be the possible link of discovering "infinity". I say space is the only thing because everything else either is just a belief or a 'feeling', like love. I say I love my mom forever. But if I die, will I still love her? How can I love if I have no existence? Or is love a spiritual bond? Perhaps when our bodies die, our love can still exist if we died still loving someone. After all, if the love never stopped, even after death, who is to say the love stops?

If space is infinite, and infinity exists, can the mind be infinite as well?Studies show that the mind can store information from the time of birth until the day we die, even if we live to be 100yrs old. But no one lives to be 500yrs old, and even 500yrs is not living "forever", so again, we don't really know if the mind is in fact, capable of being infinite in learning and storing information because no human being lives forever. Why do you think the idea of Reincarnation exists? This concept of infinity/forever is so intriguing to human beings that something like reincarnation feels like another possible answer. But if YOU die and YOU reincarnate into someone or something else, is it still considered YOU or are you another person? I'm not even going to go into the topic ofthe self because this would turn into a book.....but I don't believe in reincarnation simply because I believe if we reincarnated, we are not truly the person we were anymore. It would defeat the purpose of having a unique soul.

The belief that there is any kind of after life is what separates the spiritual from thebody. If there is an after life, surely we must have a soul that separates us from our physical bodies. But what exactly is a 'soul'?

We perceive the soul to be something that everyone is born with and is supposed to be what gives emotion, "feelings". There are many different definitions of the soul, but again, it's not something that is definite or defined. It can only be described by what we feel. It's rather a difficult thing to try and understand as well because we can't see it or study it, but most definitely, everyone can 'feel' it. Emotions stem from the brain when we come in contact with things we like or dislike, but feelings are something that we believe is connected to the idea of a 'soul', something that goes beyond our tangible human body.

To make it a bit easier to comprehend, imagine going to the beach and watching the sun set. We are familiar with the feeling of relaxation, happiness, content, and calmness. But we believe these feelings are actually linked to 'the soul' rather than our bodies because there is nothing stimulating our bodies just by looking at a sunset except that we're visually stimulated by colors and nature. If it were simply an anatomical feeling, everyone would have the same reaction to the same things. It is a fact that human beings all have the same emotions, albeit, some less or more than others, but emotions are also stemmed from personal experience. What we try to define the soul as is the individual feeling we get from these emotions that go beyond an experience. Some people will look at a sun set and think, "That's cool. The sun is setting. I mean it's cool, but it happens every day." Yet some people see the sun setting every day and are awed by it. If the sun setting makes us feel spiritually good and isn't linked to a unique experience of any kind, we presume that to be the 'soul' that reacts to it, if that makes any sense.

The soul, love, God, infinity, space....why question any of these things? Some people say, "life is too short to be asking so many questions! Especially if we'll never find an answer." And some say, "The answer lies in yourself. You form the answer."

Actually, the latter belief is attractive to most people. It's why most people don't really think about things like this. That and probably because this kind of topic can induce mass amounts of headaches. But is it not interesting nonetheless? I mean, imagine the possibilities there are that we just don't know about. And you know, it may sound kind of pointless to think about things if we can't even 'know' about them anyway, but I think that's the beauty of it. I'm an art student so I think about the impossible all the time. Because the more you think about it, the more you realize that nothing is impossible at all. There is always a possibility. Always. And in many ways, it gives me a reason to believe in myself, the world, and God. There is a universe beyond our own that I may never know about, but I can imagine it.

There may or may not be a God, but I believe there is a divine being that created all and left things up to question so that we can always have something to discover. I just feel like there is too much amazement in this world that is beyond our knowledge to think that this all came from a giant astroid. I mean, beyond human being existence, what made space to begin with? If space is infinite, perhaps it has no beginning or end. Perhaps God is just within the space. Perhaps what we call "space" is actually the entity of God and we live inside this entity. Or perhaps space is just an entity that built it's own universe through it's unknown nature. Who knows. But what we don't know can often inspire us to learn, to create, to believe, and to live. With or without questions, there is always something to discover. And maybe some things aren't meant to be discovered but are meant to give us a purpose. Without science, we wouldn't have anything we have today: No technology, no medicine, no ways of life. But without the want to discover, there would be no science. If everything was already discovered, there would be no curiosity, no motivation, or imagination.

2 comments:

omg i feel like i just got mindf*cked. lol ^___^ i love the way you think! we both seriously have a lot in common because i always think about stuff like this. about the universe, time, what's hidden in the ocean that we have to discover, etc etc.

Isnt it so fascinating?! It is Im not crazy!! >__< loll well im sure thinking about this kinda thing makes scientists crazy sometimes too!

I always feel like I have a lot in common with you and Monica too! And Janis! I know you guys are friends in real life so it makes sense loll but its always nice to know that im not the only one that likes certain things or has a certain kind of humor or thinks a certain way! even if its through bloggers XD